About Me 27F with a slow-ish travel styleBudget: Low but not shoestring - I spent around 450 JD excluding flights & souvenirs.Trip Length: 7 days (Sat - Sat)Destination(s): Aqaba (3 nights), Wadi Rum (1 night), Wadi Musa/Petra (3 nights)Accommodation: Budget hotel in South Beach in Aqaba, Desert 'camping' in Wadi Rum & a Hostel in Wadi Musa.Arrival & Aqaba I flew London Gatwick - Aqaba via Easyjet Saturday morning in mid-January. The flight was comfortable enough, and the landing was probably the most scenic landing I have every experienced - if you ever get a flight in daylight to Aqaba then my advice would be to get the window seat even if you have to pay for it. I didn't want to pay extra to reserve a seat in advance but luckily got assigned a window seat anyway and my god, it was beautiful. We flew in over the red sea, and you could Aqaba and Elliat (Israel) and the desert surroundings/mountains - this was one of the highlights of my trip. It was that good.If arriving into Jordan via air or land then the visa fee (usually 40JD) is waived here - didn't seem to be well known and most passengers had Jordan passes (A combined visa and activity pass between 70 -80 JD) - unless you're planning to visit a lot of places on the pass then it probably wouldn't be worth it if arriving into Aqaba.Arrivals were seamless and the 'visa' just consisted of security stamping my passport and asking my name. I changed some money over at the airport for a taxi and heading to my hotel on south beach.There was no way to get public transportation into Aqaba proper which hurt my budget traveller heart. It cost 25 JD to South Beach (I think Aqaba town was 20 JD). I felt perfectly safe in the taxi, in part due to the regular security checks on the way to the hotel - South Beach is rather close to the Saudi Arabia Border.I stayed in Bedouin Garden Village (booked for around 30 JD/night on Agoda) - it was about 5 minutes from the public beach. It was getting pretty late so I went up to the rooftop to watch the sun set over Israel/Egypt, grabbed some hummus and pitta from the restaurant and that was me done for the day.I had two more nights in Aqaba, so two full days - the first day I went with another solo traveller to Aqaba town - our hotel called a taxi (5 JD each way) and we had a walk around the town with no real plan really.Honestly, there isn't a lot to do in Aqaba town and it's pretty far from a must do, but it was pleasant enough to walk around in - it feels like a fairly developed and affluent town and no one was pushy towards us in any way. We had bad luck with the major sites like the 6th tallest flagpole in the world (no flag) and Aqaba castle (closed) so we spent the day walking around, having some Arabic coffee and baklava, checking out the souvenir shops and local markets and just walking along the sea front. And then back to the hotel to watch the sunset from the rooftop again (I still think about that view even now) and gorging myself on pistachios from the supermarket.On my last full day in Aqaba I had vague plans to maybe book a snorkelling trip (would have been around 60 JD including gear hire) but that became a morning on the beach and renting a snorkel for 3 JD and going snorkelling on my own. Honestly a only saw a handful of fish, some sort of impressive coral and a lot of sea urchins - but there was so much space in the water. My only other snorkel experience was a day tour where there were a lot more fish ... but a lot more people too. Swimming around at my own pace with no one getting in my way was something else and I'm glad I had that experience. Sadly, I didn't stay in as long as I might have wanted to - it was January and pretty cold - I would have done better with a wetsuit. Another sunset watch (from the beach this time) and dinner at the hotel and that was Aqaba!Wadi Rum The next day was my Wadi Rum day. I met a couple who were also headed that way in a rental car and hitched a lift with them. I had pre booked a full jeep day tour and overnight camp with Bedouin Directions. They have excellent reviews and a system where they advertise shared tours on their website so others can join. There were 2 other solo travellers on my tour so the price for my tour and overnight in camp was 60 JD, meals included (would have been around 100 + on my own).This was a really great day - all the jeep tours head to the same sort of stops so it did get a little crowded in places, but I'd say most the stops were worthwhile. My personal favourites were the Lawrence Spring and the Khazali Canyon near the start of the tour. There were a lot of people at Lawrence Spring just looking after and watering their camels which was pretty cool to see. The canyon was pretty crowded but it had some permanant pools of water and some Nebatean carvings on the wall.Most of the other stops were places where you could scramble up a funny shaped rock to take a photo - to be honest, if it was just me on the tour I would probably have asked to skip a couple of these. Our guide did do a random stop at a well where we didn't see anyone else which was another highlight for me - I did babble on about how much I liked seeing the water in the canyon and I think he improvised this - another highlight for me personally.After sunset it was back to the camp - this camp was in a canyon rather than in the open like most other camps - i liked this a lot personally but other camps would probably be better for stargazing. The camp itself had a communal tent for dinner which made for a really nice atmosphere.Wadi Musa/Petra - Day 1 After breakfast at camp I had plans to catch the tourist bus from the visitor centre to Wadi Musa (would have been about 12 JD) - but another solo traveller on my tour was heading the same way with a car and driver and offered me a lift! So I was settled into Rafiki Hostel (9 JD a night excluding breakfast at 3.5 JD) in Wadi Musa around 11AMI had three nights here so I was planning to take it easy that day but my feet had other ideas, so I dumped my bags and walked down to Petra. Again, I was just planning to buy my ticket and check out the museum, but at the counter my feet were still itching so I brought a three day ticket (60 JD) and headed down to the treasury. And honestly it was... exactly what I expected. I think I had seen so many photos of the treasury. that seeing it in person was almost underwhelming, but there is more to Petra that just the treasury so I headed down the street of facades. There are hundreds of small facade carvings to see here, as well as a Roman amphitheatre, but it was the Royal tombs that caught my eye. These are 4, less well preserved but still impressive facades up a hill on the right hand side of the street of facades. You can actually go inside these ones, and while it's empty inside, these tombs where caved out of multicoloured stones (I think marble) and you can see this really well from the inside. After this I stopped by a souvenir stall and bought an (overpriced) scarf for my mother and drank about 4 cups of sweet Bedouin tea there. The woman running the stall suggested I follow the path past the royal tombs uphill to see the treasury from above. It was getting late and I was wary about heading back in the dark, so I just headed straight back to the hostel.This was probably my only real regret of the trip - never getting a view of the treasury from above. I considered going to the high place of sacrifice for the same view, which only takes a half hour scramble from the treasury, but others who had done this said they had been forced to hire a very verbally aggressive guide to take them up - not an experience I really wanted to have.Rafiki Hostel runs a buffet dinner for 5 JD a night which I joined in - chicken mansaf, pitta, rice hummus, salads and baklava were all on offer so highly recommend if you are staying there.Petra Day 2 - This was the monastery day - the longest trail most people will to in Petra. It took me about 3-4 hours each way and honestly, it was tough and hot, even in January, but so, so worth it. There's only been a handful of times when I've travelled where I've been literally speechless, and this was one of them. I'd avoided looking at photos of the monastery specifically for the trip so I would be surprised, which I think payed off here. I brought an overpriced tea and took it all in, had a wander round the area behind the monastery (there are some great views around there) and then walked back, got a shawarma in wadi musa for 5 JD, and I was DONE for the day.Petra Day three - honestly, I didn't need this third day. 1.5/2 days would probably be enough for most, but I had another full day in wadi musa and only one picture of the treasury, so back to petra I went. I headed to the Byzantine Church on a small hill past the street a facades, bought an overpriced cup of coffee and just people watched for a bit and took it all in.Final Day My flight was at 5pm, which gave me enough time to get from Wadi Musa back to Aqaba. I caught a local bus for 7 JD (perfectly safe and comfortable) and got to Aqaba around lunchtime. After a chicken kebab in Aqaba I caught a taxi to the airport, arriving around 2pm.Thoughts Jordan was safer than expected- and I expected it to be pretty safe. Keep some wits about you in Petra to avoid being scammed and be wary of the animals and 99.9% of tourists would have no problems.I'd be delighted to answer any questions in the comments - I've found trip reports very helpful in the past and thought it was time to give back. via /r/solotravel https://ift.tt/2MhJxXT